Remember the “Hands up, don’t shoot” narrative that led to the creation of #BlackLivesMatter, the subsequent riots and deterioration of race relations in the United States, if not the world?

Remember what happened after the truth finally came out…?

In a speech in Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder concluded, “Michael Brown’s death, though a tragedy, did not involve prosecutable conduct on the part of Officer Wilson.” Holder said that the decision “represents the sound, considered and independent judgment of the expert career prosecutors,” and that he concurred.

An 86-page report released Wednesday found that physical evidence and “credible” witnesses supported police Officer Darren Wilson’s version of an event that drew international attention and triggered repeated protests that included looting and arson in Ferguson, Dellwood, St. Louis and elsewhere.
— St. Louis Today, 3/5/15

The truth didn’t matter as “Hands up, don’t shoot” (which was never said by Michael Brown) was still a popular chant then and still is to this day.

Now, we have the George Floyd incident which resulted in the reemergence of Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and a renewed “discussion” on race in America which has been bolstered by the social media-driven #CancelCulture to the destruction of anyone in their path.

We were again assured that justice would be served and as Americans, we expect to see all the facts so we can make informed decisions.

It’s sad it took a British publication to give Americans pertinent information, months after the fact.

It’s kinda’ scary to think an elected official could withhold possibly exonerating evidence, but we’re not surprised.

It’s kinda’ scary to think the crazies would be allowed to believe one version of events and not see everything so all involved might have taken a step back, but we’re not surprised.

It’s kinda’ scary to think a politician would be willing to see private and public property be vandalized and/or destroyed, citizens and police officers be injured and/or killed, just to win a prosecution… but we’re not surprised.

It’s kinda scary to think Keith Ellison may be on a short list for Attorney General of the United States should Joe Biden win the presidency in November, but it looks like he’s dressing up his resume.

What we can again take from this, as we did going back as far as Trayon Martin, is that we clearly can’t trust what we see when it comes to what is cherry-picked and presented to the public. Had the public been able to see the video preceding the famous punch, Ray Rice might have been able to end his football career on the field, on his terms. Had the public been able to hear all of the audio and not just a selective clip blown up by the media, Donald Sterling might still own the Los Angeles Clippers.

And had the State of Minnesota released all of the body cam video in the George Floyd incident early on, who knows how many lives and property may have been spared from the ignorant mob and we probably wouldn’t be dealing with #DefundThePolice foolishness.

But as long as the elected get what they want, who are we (and the truth) to stand in their way?

Simple. Most of us have common sense.

We grew up during a time when we had a parent or parents who drummed into our heads that NOTHING good came from being on the street at night. Most of us remember being told and adhering to being on our way home when the street lights came on. We were home and thereby, didn’t get into any trouble.

But in the event we did encounter the police, rules were passed down by our elders that made sense.

Do not run away from the police. That obviously implies some kind of guilt.

Politely cooperate and under no circumstances mouth off to an officer.

Those two simple rules almost always guaranteed a safe return home that evening, with possibly just a warning from the officer, if that.

Do not try to physically assault and/or injure a police officer.

Do not try to take a police officer’s gun, taser, etc. away from him or her.

Mouthing off to a police officer is bad enough. Assaulting a police officer and actually attempting to go for his or her taser or gun…? Not saying you’d deserve to die for doing that, but it’s an invitation for that cause-and-effect discussion at the least.

How many of those now in the headlines, embraced by #BlackLivesMatter and those who support their cause, have achieved martyr status unnecessarily? Had they observed common sense and not escalated a situation, chances are good they’d still be with us today.

But when we have parents who allow their children to be out late at night (doing God knows what) and they invite a negative police interaction, it’s “systemic racism”.

Many black people continue to live long lives, having little (if any) contact with the police. We consider them the welcome thin blue line protecting us from thugs of all colors. We’ve lived this long because we respect society, other people, and the police.

Common sense.

Elite law students want their finals postponed because of grand jury decisions. Not everyone is sympathetic.

Their opening remarks are weak, to say the least.

We have been traumatized over and again by the devaluation of Black and Brown lives. We are falling apart.

Recent events have unsettled our lives as students. We have struggled to compartmentalize our trauma as we sit and make fruitless attempts to focus on exam preparation.

Our trauma will be present with us on exam day, our trauma is inhibiting us from sleeping at night, and our trauma is ever-present among the words in our textbooks. Moreover, the violence that the law has done to Mike Brown and now Eric Garner is a legal violence that affects and implicates us all. We are now asked to use the same legal maneuvers and language on our exams this Monday that was used to deny justice to so many Black and Brown bodies. In being asked to prepare for and take our exams in this moment, we are being asked to perform incredible acts of disassociation that have led us to question our place in this school community and the legal community at large.

We need time to process and breathe. We need your support. We need it now.

We expect the following:

1. 1. 1. That faculty and administration recognize our trauma as legitimate and worthy of a response
      2. That students who have been deeply affected by recent events be allowed to postpone exams
      3. That an emergency event occur on Monday, December 8, 2015 for the administration, faculty, and students to discuss the concerns of students of color in the wake of recent events

Signed,

The Columbia Law School Coalition of Concerned Students of Color

What a bunch of “people of color”, self-centered, privileged, victim wannabes.

Using the Brown and Garner tragedies to get out of taking finals is lame and as the sentiments of resentment flood in, this latest attempt of victimization will further inhibit “people of color” from gaining employment in many of our nation’s law firms; not because they are “people of color” but because of their potential of wanting special treatment based on sympathy and exhibited weakness.

The law is all about precedent and being able to have total recall of precedent.

When the final verdict of the UVA rape incident end in a result female students don’t like, will they be too “traumatized” to take their finals? We could be talking discrimination…? When a gay incident happens, will they be too “traumatized” to take a final? Precedent will have been set.

Let’s be real; most of us wanted a reason to not take a final. We just didn’t think exploiting a national tragedy was the best way to do it. We just studied up and took the fucking exam. These “students of color” are lazy, wanted an excuse to get out of something all other students had to do, and #blacklivesmatter was convenient.

No one will want this crop of lawyers to represent them, and their future whining will not fall on deaf ears.

They’ll be taken as a joke and deservedly so.

The protest leaders followed Officer Wells and inquired why the motorist wasn’t arrested. When another protester loudly interjected himself into the conversation, a brief argument ensued and the protest leaders later objected to having any video that made “black people look bad” be documented for broadcast.

We are a nation built on the rule of law, and so we need to accept that this decision was the grand jury’s to make. There are Americans who agree with it and there are Americans who are deeply disappointed, even angry. It’s an understandable reaction. But I join Michael’s parents in asking anyone who protests this decision to do so peacefully.
— President Barack Obama

CNN referred to the shooting as a “murder” during their riot coverage. Fox News is still pontificating. The liberals are exploiting blacks on the ground while conservatives exploited willing blacks who are only showcased when the issue is race. Anarchists are using Ferguson as an excuse to continue their delusional quest to overthrow the country while college students participated to earn some feel-good, Ferguson extra credits.

The now-second-guessing cable news media wanted the juicy live video. Political halfrican-Americans seized on yet another opportunity to prove their blackness. Social media intellectuals showed their true colors. The activists wanted to revive their relevance. Criminals pounced on a police force that would be distracted. The writers at “Law & Order” have a new plot line. All found a way to cash in on a local tragedy.

What’s understandable is that we expected the insanity of looting and burning down of one’s own neighborhood after bitching that few businesses wanted to set up shop there. What’s understandable is the same sensationalist media that cherry-picked the Brown shooting and involved themselves in the wall-to-wall coverage, will lecture the nation before soon leaving behind the Ferguson residents with the devastation they helped inflame.

We were at the White House when the grand jury decision was announced and at the time, there were more police and media personnel than tourists.

One man overheard our conversation about the controversy and agreed to share his sobering perspective….

While I don’t agree with everything this man said, he did make a few valid points that mustn’t be dismissed just because it’s something you can’t identify with. To do so would make you sound like another elitist, know-it-all pundit wannabe.

And let’s not forget the dirty little secret: with the exception of the state’s lieutenant governor, almost all of the prominent players in the Ferguson tragedy are Democrats and/or progressives.

It will be very easy for many on the conservative side to cite the “rule of law”; the same sanctimonious who are on our televisions, radios, and campuses live a life of security most of us will never experience, thus their sheltered perspective on how things should be must be taken with a degree of skepticism.

Ferguson, Missouri is a self-inflicted wound committed by almost involved. There may be “no justice” and “no peace”, but there sure seems to be a teachable shortage of shame as well.

As for the media, next stop: Cleveland…?

The mother of Michael Brown could be charged with felony armed robbery for allegedly attacking people in a Ferguson, Mo., parking lot because they were selling T-shirts honoring the late teenager.

A copy of the Ferguson Police Department report was provided yesterday by city attorney Stephanie Karr. When TSG requested the document two weeks ago, Karr noted that Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, was “described in the report” and had “specifically requested that the report be withheld from the media.”
— The Smoking Gun, 11/6/14

Funny how quickly some people believe they’re special….

One person was hospitalized in the reported attack and another unidentified alleged victim was reportedly beaten with a pipe. “You can’t sell this shit,” McSpadden allegedly said, according to the report.

McSpadden’s former mother-in-law, Pearlie Gordon, was among those beaten by “a large group of about 20-30 subjects” who had “jumped out of vehicles and rushed” the group of sellers, according to the police report.

This couldn’t be all about the money, could it?

Have you noticed how much attention the Palin family brawl has garnered, yet there is very little reporting of this incident?

Ferguson racebaiting, police-taunting opportunists are going to raise hell once the grand jury absolves officer Darren Wilson of the desired premeditated murder of innocent bystander Michael Brown, yet his own mother shows that violence appears to be in the family blood.